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Columbia University sent in New York police to break up an unauthorised pro-Palestinian encampment on Thursday, in an intensifying clampdown by US institutions on protests triggered by the Israel-Hamas war.
New York mayor Eric Adams said the police had made 108 arrests. Columbia also suspended the students who had occupied part of its main campus for more than 30 hours. Officials said the last time the university brought in the police was to break up a demonstration around race in 1987.
Minouche Shafik, Columbia’s president, described what she called “this extraordinary step” as a way to “support both the right to expression and the safety and functioning of our university” after the demonstrators refused to disperse.
The tough action came a day after she and other senior university officials had testified in front of a largely hostile congressional education committee, speaking out firmly against antisemitism and naming faculty members who are under investigation or have been dismissed.
Shafik’s comments on the Hill seemed designed to respond to aggressive questioning from Republican members of Congress that helped spark the resignations late last year of the presidents of the universities of Pennsylvania and Harvard, who had testified at an earlier hearing.
But the police intervention at Columbia risks further inflaming tensions at a time when Jewish and Muslim groups have launched lawsuits against multiple universities for failing to prevent incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia respectively.
Polls show many students and younger voters have been critical of Democrats including President Joe Biden for failing to put more pressure on Israel to impose a ceasefire in Gaza.
The students suspended on Wednesday included Isra Hirsi, the daughter of Ilhan Omar, a Democratic Congresswomen who raised concerns during Wednesday’s hearings about harassment of pro-Palestinian students on campuses.
Shafik said the Columbia protesters had “violated a long list of rules and policies” and that their behaviour “severely disrupts campus life, and creates a harassing and intimidating environment for many of our students”.
She said she had introduced new policies reflecting four principles: “ensuring the safety of Columbia’s students and faculty; demonstrating care and compassion; balancing freedom of speech while ensuring members of our community feel safe and welcome; and using education to address the problem of antisemitism.”
Columbia suspended a number of students before this week’s action and banned two pro-Palestinian student groups.
A statement from the student protesters said: “Despite the university’s threats, the Gaza Solidarity Encampment will remain until Columbia University divests all finances, including the endowment, from corporations that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide, and occupation in Palestine.”
They called for “further accountability with complete transparency for all of Columbia’s financial investments”.
Virginia Foxx, a US Congress member from North Carolina who is chair of the education and workforce committee, welcomed Shafik’s intervention but said her committee had “serious concerns regarding misleading and inaccurate statements from yesterday’s testimony”.
Earlier this week, the University of Southern California cancelled its planned valedictorian speech — recognising a high achiever — by Muslim student Asna Tabassum, after what it claimed were security threats.
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